ArcSys Voice Acting [This thread has rules now]

[Tsuki Garyuu]

Is there a clip of English Chipp on Youtube anywhere?  Haven't had the chance to hear him yet, and he's the only one I think I've missed so far.  Faust is FANTASTIC, and while I-No and Ramlethal weren't exactly what I was hoping for, they're fine enough that I can stand listening to them for as much as I'm going to play them, since Ram is going to be my #1 main and I'm interested in I-No now that her execution requirements have gone down a bit.  Really interested in how Elphelt and Leo will sound.  I'd love for Elph to be Christine Marie Cabanos if they could get her, since she'd nail Elphelt's gushing over love and weddings just as well as she nailed Mako's signature crazy speeches, but we'll see in a couple of weeks.

 

Given that 100% of my predictions were jossed, I can only expect Elphelt to be voiced by anyone but Christine. And with how well the localization team did so well on their choices, I'm bracing for impact.

[White Man]

Having heard a few more characters speak...  I like May's voice a lot.  She sounds older than her Japanese counterpart, but still sufficiently, uh, girly, I guess?  And her VA actually emotes during her attack/hit vocal clips, which I'm finding to be a bizarrely rare occurrence among the game's English cast.  I don't think May's Japanese voice is nearly as annoying as some people make out, but I would say hers is one of the few dub voices that is at least arguably better than the original.

Faust is also sounding good to my ears.  Kaiji Tang is really good at hamming it up without going overboard with it, which is ideal for Faust; you want him to sound insane without it seeming as though he's trying to sound insane.

I only heard Potemkin speak a few lines, but from based on that much, I'm inclined to agree with the people who said his voice needs more filtering.  He just sounds like an average dude instead of this massive giant.  If nothing else, they could have at least made it sound like his voice was coming from inside a helmet.

Zato sounds fine, I think.  I didn't hear a lot of him either, but his voice seems to have a subtly villainous silkiness to it that fits the character rather well.  That said, I miss the growl that Takehito Koyasu puts into some of his lines — or put into his lines in previous games, at least.  I haven't heard him too much in Xrd yet.

I think Venom is the only character I haven't heard yet, coincidentally.  Does anybody have a link to a video where he speaks?  I'm curious to hear if his dub voice is as horrid as everyone is making out.

[LiveWireX]

With people talking about Christine Marie Cabanos being a good choice for Elphelt, does anybody have any examples of characters she's done before? I've been trying to think on who would make a good Elphelt, and I can't really say whether she'd be good or not since I don't really have anything to base it off of.

[Tsuki Garyuu]

With people talking about Christine Marie Cabanos being a good choice for Elphelt, does anybody have any examples of characters she's done before? I've been trying to think on who would make a good Elphelt, and I can't really say whether she'd be good or not since I don't really have anything to base it off of.

 

Every reason we picked Cabanos.

[Vulcan422]

She's played the following characters.

 

-Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

-Filia/Fukua (Skullgirls)

-Shiemi Moriyama (Blue Exorcist)

-Marie Rose (Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Arcade Edition)

-Mako Mankanshoku (Kill la Kill)

-Silica (Sword Art Online)

 

I'd say she is a pretty good fit.

[Tsuki Garyuu]

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Christine-Marie-Cabanos/

[Stellarcircle5]

I'd actually agree that Cabanos being brought on isn't outside the realm of possibility. A few of the VO artists in Xrd are actually somewhat new, and some of them not only worked together through online amateur work, but "graduated" into the professional world around the same time. Lucien Dodge and Kaiji Tang are examples of this. Seeing as how Cabanos moved up around the same time, I would be surprised, especially with the amount of exposure she has been getting over the last few years.

[LiveWireX]

Ohhh, okay. Marie Rose and Chiaki (I've only seen through to the end of the first trial in DR2) actually stuck out to me more than Filia, since I never really played SG.

[Blade]

Two things:

 

One: The voice acting will probably sound better once everybody is actually GOOD at playing their characters (i.e. that Ky player sucks in the demo video).

 

Two: Did anyone else notice Faust's VA is Kenshiro in Ken's Rage?  I mean... I know Faust has an HnK reference on his chest.... but WAS HE CAST BECAUSE OF THAT???? lol  (ARCSys are secretly HnK fans... that's my theory).

[madigawadesperate]

Please don't make elphet sound like marie rose, i want to bash her face in. 

[shinr]

Okay, now that I heard Ram's voice, I have to ask something that was bothering me for the while:

 

Japan's way for making emotionless/expressionless girls is to simply use the naturally softest voice possible and simply keep withing that range, while the American/English way is to try to make it sound as intentionally artificial and/or bored as possible.

 

Why is there such a difference?

[LeDom]

Cultural/dialect differences? I dunno.

[Blade]

It's a matter of culture and how Rocking Female Bosses are expressed.

 

Japan is all about the Ice Queen Lolita.

 

America is all about the Evil Raging Witch from Hell.

 

Compare/Contrast the original Valentine from GG2 and her JP/US voices with something like Mu-12/Nu-13 and their voices from BBCSExtend (not Mu's CP version which is mostly all friendly lol).

[D.R.F.]

I like America's version better, maybe that's just me though

[LiveWireX]

For some odd reason I keep expecting Elphelt to have some random "Wild West" hint to her "voice" or "accent" or something, and I have no idea why, or if that would make her awesome or awful.

[Narroo]

For some odd reason I keep expecting Elphelt to have some random "Wild West" hint to her "voice" or "accent" or something, and I have no idea why, or if that would make her awesome or awful.

She kinda looks like it with that dress and all those guns.

[Blade]

I haven't heard Venom's voice yet, lots of negative feedback on it...  I'd like to hear it for myself.

[RWA Announcer]

Just heard Chipp.  I have no idea who it is, but her sounds adequately silly enough for the role, especially since Chipp has always struck me as a pretty delusional character, what the thinking he was born in Japan, but clearly being American thing.  Almost like Sodom from Street Fighter.  Can we post links to the demo videos here?  I'll check the rules on that, because I could link you some English Venom Blade so that you can hear him and form your own opinion on him.

[White Man]

Okay, now that I heard Ram's voice, I have to ask something that was bothering me for the while:

 

Japan's way for making emotionless/expressionless girls is to simply use the naturally softest voice possible and simply keep withing that range, while the American/English way is to try to make it sound as intentionally artificial and/or bored as possible.

 

Why is there such a difference?

 

I'm not an authority on Japanese culture by any means, but my observation is that etiquette within that culture demands people speak to each other with a certain amount of enthusiasm.  Even within very strict professional environments, colleagues seem expected to display a certain amount of energy through their words and gestures when speaking to one another.  I believe this is especially true for women, particularly when they're speaking with superiors.  I think this is largely where the stereotype of young Japanese girls being perpetually hyperactive comes from.

In contrast, people within the United States (as well as the majority of English-speaking European countries for that matter) tend to show less emotion in casual conversations.  Appearing too excited when talking about any general subject with someone seems abnormal.  The expectation is simply that people pay close attention to what the other person is saying, hence the increased frequency of more subtle conversational cues such as nodding, going "Ah," "Mm-hm," and so forth.

Like you pointed out, these cultural dissimilarities show up in the different ways we portray the personalities of characters who are "artificial" beings that lack any motivation to follow proper social etiquette.  In these roles, Japanese VAs sound very cold and emotionless because the absence of emotion when speaking is seen as uncanny in that culture.  American VAs, on the other hand, express an exaggerated tone of disinterest, as this implies a cognitive detachment to one's surroundings that seems more unnatural than someone with a bland personality.

I could be waaaay off base there, but that's my interpretation of why the differences you mentioned exist.

[LeDom]

Chipp doesn't talk like a weeb. I am disappoint.

[Zazz]

For some odd reason I keep expecting Elphelt to have some random "Wild West" hint to her "voice" or "accent" or something, and I have no idea why, or if that would make her awesome or awful.

 

If that's the case, it would fit right in with Burger Sheriff's stage.

[SoWL]

It's a matter of culture and how Rocking Female Bosses are expressed.

 

Japan is all about the Ice Queen Lolita.

Uhh, not really? We just had I-No, and she's anything but that. And that's without even bringing up any other franchises.

[Stellarcircle5]

Chipp doesn't talk like a weeb. I am disappoint.

 

I don't mind the absence of weeb-talk. Esxcept for him muttering "WASABI." on air throw.

[Layer]

I stood there letting Chipp wail on me hoping he would yell "FIND ME!!"

 

Alas, nothing yet....

[Blade]

The expectation is simply that people pay close attention to what the other person is saying, hence the increased frequency of more subtle conversational cues such as nodding, going "Ah," "Mm-hm," and so forth.

 

I was talking to a Bilingual Japanese friend of mine on PSN and I had a hard time explaining what "Hm?" means to them while texting... it took a while, but they got it.